Saving Belize's Birds

Greetings from Belize,

A few good news updates since our last monthly report. The red lored whose eye was destroyed by a pellet or sling shot was finally released last week. It’s a difficult call to make to release a one-eyed bird of any species, but parrots have an advantage of living in a strong social structure so we hope that will compensate for his half-vision when it comes to predator awareness. He was extremely agitated in a captive situation, and birds like him are almost impossible to habituate, so we felt it only fair to give him a chance to be free again rather than condemn him to life in a cage.

We also had a visitor to one of our feeders: an un-banded white-front with a large chunk of her beak missing. She was skinny and quite desperate. She allowed herself to be caught (although now she’s stronger I bet she regrets that decision) and has been eating smoothies like there’s no tomorrow. No band means she’s either wild-born or an escaped pet. Whatever she is she encountered something strong and aggressive to have chewed up her beak like that. Oscar said it looked as if her face had been remodeled with a stick of dynamite – so that’s her name! Dyna continues to thrive and hates us for keeping her captive, but without a beak she wouldn’t last long outside.

We had a couple of fast turn-arounds which we always enjoy. One was a purple gallinule that we picked up from Orange walk. He had mild head trauma and was found wandering in the middle of the town. After first-class room and board he was released fitter and fatter a couple of weeks later. We were called out to check on a bat falcon hit by a bus in Biscayne Village. He was stunned for a few hours, but otherwise uninjured. We took the risk of releasing on site that afternoon and thankfully it worked out perfectly. We’ve also had the usual flurry of migrants heading back north that have encountered windows or vehicles along the way. We humans don’t make their difficult journey any easier, that’s for sure.

We anticipate releasing a royal tern soon, who has been with us for far too long already. He was banded in Hampton Beach, Virginia USA 7 months ago, and flew 1500 miles to Belize. Somewhere along the way he injured his food and become debilitated by parasites. He was very lucky the caring folks of The Bliss Centre in Belize City put him in a box and called on our assistance for him.

And finally, just yesterday we received 3 yellow-headed amazon chicks – our first of the season. It always breaks my heart to think of the parents returning to empty nest, but as the team in the field keep reminding me, better that we take them than the poachers. It’s still awful knowing that the parents have invested so much physical and mental resources into raising them to this 7 or 8 week stage only to return to an empty nest. I can’t imagine their heartbreak.

Thank you so much as always for your generosity and support. You make it all possible!!

Links:

• Belize Bird Rescue website

2018 was a record year for our little rescue, in many ways.

We saw more intakes than ever with 309 cases, 93 of which were released during the same year. 108 of them are still undergoing rehabilitation, with 35 transferred to other facilities or to authorized carers. Amongst the intakes were 119 parrots, 60 raptors, 29 water-birds and 73 passerines, toucans and woodpeckers. Of those 309 cases, the general public generated 150 of the rescues from their reports, and the Forest Department and other organisations generated another 93 birds.

Our releases throughout the year included 92 parrots and 39 owls! Of the 166 birds still undergoing rehabilitation, all but 12 of them are parrots.

Our 2018 expenditure was slightly higher than usual at around $85,000US, but that’s to be expected with the increase in cases, however with our Annual in-country fundraiser, the support of the wonderful GlobalGiving donors, and financial and operational support from Rock Farm Guest House, our income was also a considerably more than usual. We also had much more in-kind support in the form of vets and interns than we have even had before. We received 168 days of veterinary care from 4 vets, and 770 days of intern assistance from 18 wonderful people from around the world.

We are delighted to say that our parrot rehab programme is growing and growing, and the ‘wild’ flocks around BBR are growing too! Many of them brought back babies this year, and the off-site releases of endangered yellow-heads were the fastest and most successful yet.

This coming April we will be sending 27 hand-reared yellow-head babies back to the wild, and we cannot wait to see this fabulous flock of youngsters flying free where they truly belong.

Once again, we could not do what we do without the financial and moral support of our GlobalGiving Community. We can never find the ways to thank you enough, certainly not with words along, but maybe if you go to our Facebook page or website and see the photos and videos of the birds you have helped us to heal and to grow and find their way to freedom, then you will know that every single dollar counts and it IS worth it and we simply couldn’t do what we do with you, the donor.

Thank you - from the bottom of every feathery little heart at BBR.

Nikki & the BBR Team

Links:

• Facebook Page
• BBR Blog
• Experience BBR by staying at Rock Farm Guest House